Beyond Sly Blue
by aspecialkindofhuman
Summary: AU where Aoba rejected his other self, Scrap power-wielding Sly Blue. Enraged and bent on revenge, Sly Blue vows to destroy everythihng in Aoba's life until he, Sly Blue, is the only one left standing. Slight noiz x aoba with more of a focus on Aoba x Sly Blue. Little bit of Koujaku and Clear action too. AU pre reconnect. T for cussing and mild sexual content
1. The Monster at the Back of Your Mind

I'm terrible. This is the first chapter of my DMMD fic and yeah. That game has really ruined my life. Okay here we go

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The Monster at the Back of Your Mind

"I carried you out, you know."

"Out of the fire and the rubble and the destruction. Out of the Oval Tower and down to the friends waiting patiently below.

"Took some strength, I can tell you that. But not as much as I would've thought. You're a little bit of a wimp, Aoba. There's not much strength in your small little body. Comparing you to the friends you've gathered around yourself, you're a shrimp. A runt.

"A weakling.

"'Course I've always known that. That's why you had me. Sure, you can pretend that you're strong enough to take care of yourself, that you're not the weakling you really are. After all, back when we were together, you could punch and kick with the best of them. But that's all you really did. You staggered your opponents, maybe a little. Enough time to let me get to work.

"But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that you're safe and happy in your home, far away from the troubles Toue and his Platinum Jail caused. And that I was the one who lifted you out of the ashes of despair and set your ass on the path home.

"Me! The little monster at the back of your mind. Chewing away at your consciousness, pushing through the barriers of your mind, trying desperately to find a way into your head. I saved you, Aoba. I saved you and your stupid dog and even your pathetic little frat boys. Yep. I did. Shooed them all away from the tower as it was about to collapse and handed you off to them like a little rag doll. They were going to go in after you, simple fools.

"Why, you may ask? Why did I let you go? Why did I give you up to those pathetic friends when I could've kept you to myself and tortured you until you said yes? Well, the answer is simple really.

"I want to destroy you, Aoba.

"Break you into a million tiny pieces and scatter them across this pathetic island. Burn your heart and tear at your mind until you're left with nothing, asking yourself over and over again why you didn't just say yes! And I can't do that by keeping you all to myself. No, no, no, I've got to let you get nice and comfortable in your own life. I need you to settle down and relax. I need you to be at peace with your friends and have a good time for once. I need you to believe its all over. That everything's alright and back to normal.

"That you are finally safe.

"So when I do come for you, you'll be so warm and relaxed that you won't know what's hit you until it's gone. And by the time you figure it out . . . well, let's just say that when you say yes to me - and you will say yes, Aoba, mark my words - we're gonna trade places for a little while and you're going to see how you like watching your life from the passenger's seat. Yes, that will be a great, great day. I'm already looking forward to it.

"So that's why I let you go, Aoba. That's why I need you to sleep peacefully without so much as a wisp of a bad dream to stir your subconscious. That's why I'll always be here, night after night, watching over you. Because I need you rested for my turn in the driver's seat. And man, am I looking forward to having the reigns for a change! I've also been more of a dom and you, Aoba, well you're a natural sub."

Sly Blue grinned, baring his teeth in a harsh smile that glimmered in the soft moonlight filtering in through Aoba's open veranda door. His face was softer, paler in the gentle light, but it still glowed with a strange sharpness that would've made Aoba cringed, had he been awake to see him. His eyes, sharp yellow and glowing, greedily roamed up and down Aoba's sleeping body. They were the eyes of a predator, aiming for the kill. And Aoba, his features gentle in sleep, was as unaware and naive to the danger lurking above him as prey is right before the predator jumps.

"I'm gonna make everyone you've ever loved bleed, Aoba Seragaki." Sly smiled, leaning down to whisper in Aoba's upturned ear. With long gentle fingers, he brushed strands of blue away from Aoba's ear to pour the words directly into his brain so they could fester there. "And all because you refused me. Because you refused yourself."

Sly stood up from his crouching position by the head of Aoba's bed and walked to the veranda, pausing at the window to stare at the sleeping lump of his prey. "You'll see." Sly's smile faded and the sharpness of his yellow eyes dimmed a fraction. "You'll see . . . that I am here for you. That I've always been here for you, and that I will always be here for you."

Sly tipped his head up and the determination was back in his eyes and in the sharpness of his bared teeth. "And by the time I'm finished here, I will be the only one left for you. And you'll see . . . you'll see . . ."

He slid through the moonlight out the veranda door. He shut it quietly behind himself, locking both the moonlight, and his prey, inside.

"You'll see," he muttered one last time before dropping off the balcony to the ground two stories below.

He landed agiley on the cobblestone street and rolled out of sight, melting easily into the shadows he'd come from with his shoulders hunched, hands thrust down in his pockets, and his face turned towards the ruins of the Oval Tower.


	2. Guilty Until Proven Innocent

**Abbreviated version in Bold: basically all you need to know**

Second chapter yayayya! this will probably go faster than my other stuff because A I'm sick so more time to write and B dmmd is fresh on the brain so I have a lot to work with. Anywayyyyyy umm **I don't really like Mink** (his route was hard to stomach what with all the RAPING and stuff) so umm, he won't be in here much. I feel like I have to include him because he's a part of the original game, but they're wont be too much screen time (you know what I mean) with him. So yeah.

Also, at this point we're assuming that **Aoba knows the backstories of** everyone (despite not having specifically gone through their routes) and **Ren is in his puppy form (he and Aoba did NOT do the frickle frackle).**

Also, as you're about to find out **I don't like Virus and Trip.** Personally, I think they're lying assholes who I rooted for in the beginning because they were Aoba's only normal friends only to find out that they were actually lying manipulative fuckwads who I know think should root in hell for the rest of their lives, so they will also not be in here much (in fact, this chapter and maybe the next is the last time they ever get so much as a mention) so if you like aoba x mink and virus x aoba x trip, sorry this fic ain't for you.  
Sorry for such a long note, anyway hope you enjoy.

**BECAUSE I DIDN'T PUT THIS UP LAST TIME**: I don't own DMMD or any of the characters in it

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Guilty Until Proven Innocent

"BREAKING NEWS IN THE OLD RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT!"

Four people sat around the TV screen, their faces lit by its words.

"Think he's up, yet?" In the uncomfortable silence that blanketed the downstairs room, Noiz's voice startled all its occupants.

Koujaku shrugged without looking at Noiz. "I don't know."

In the corner, with his legs crossed one over the other, Mink puffed silently on his cigar. "Why don't you go find out?"

"I'll go." Twiddling his thumbs on the couch beside Noiz, Clear stood up sharply, but was immediately yanked back down by Noiz.

"Leave him be." Noiz scowled at Mink out of the side of his mouth. "He's had a rough week."

"And you would know this because . . .?" Koujaku clenched his hands on the armrest across from the pierced teen.

Noiz's pierced tongue slid out of his mouth to play with a new lip ring he'd poked through his bottom lip. "I've been staying over all week."

The wood of the armrests splintered under Koujaku's hard grip.

"Please." Mink rolled his eyes dramatically, puffing on his cigar and blowing smoke out the open window. "Not now, ladies."

"You're one to talk." Koujaku aimed his scowl in the brute's direction. "You don't belong here. You don't even like Aoba."

Mink puffed some more on his cigar. "Not true."

"Aoba told me what you tried to do to him." Koujaku's voice was a low growl. "What you tried to get your team members to do to him."

Mink blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth. "That's in the past."

"Like hell it is!" Koujaku stood up sharply.

"Give me a break." Noiz sighed and rolled his eyes, relaxing back into the couch cushions.

"Are they really going to do this again?" Clear whispered to Noiz and the lanky teen just rolled his eyes again.

"I'm not here for you." Mink stood and dropped a package down at Koujaku's feet. "I'm here because Aoba asked a favor of me."

"Oh, yeah?" Koujaku's teeth clenched. "And what was that?"

"He asked me to keep an eye on Oval Tower." Mink crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at the bristling Koujaku. "My team and I moved out into Platinum Jail's Night Valley after the Tower collapsed. Aoba asked me to keep an eye on the place since we were already going to be out there, and I did." Mink eyed the package pointedly. "That's all the security footage from the past couple of months. I thought he'd want to look at it."

"What did you see?" Tentaively, Noiz stepped over to Koujaku and removed the package from beneath the angry man.

"That's for Aoba to know." Mink watched Noiz unwrap the packaged apprehensively.

"Please." Noiz rolled his eyes. "Aoba barely knows how to operate his Coil. He'd never be able to get these videotapes up and running. Pulling something blue and shiny out of his pocket, Noiz began working on the videotapes, popping them one by one into his little block Allmates and typing away at a little blue keyboard he'd dropped into the air.

"Is that what you were doing when you were staying over?" Koujaku's sharp gaze found Noiz on the couch. "Fixing his Coil for him?"

Noiz rolled his eyes again. "Yes, actually. Ren too. If you don't believe me, ask the little blue fluff box yourself, now if you ladies will excuse me, I have to work to do."

And with that, Noiz promptly left the room, carrying the videotapes, his block Allmates, and his little floating keyboard with him.

Three people sat around the TV screen, their faces lit by its words.

"I'll go see if he needs help." Clear left too, practically running out of the room.

Two people sat around the TV screen, their faces lit by its words.

"Aoba is none of your concern, you rapist thug." Koujaku ground his teeth so hard he could actually hear his jaw clenching.

Slipping his pipe into his pocket, Mink nodded his head at Koujaku and turned to the door.

"I will acknowledge the fact that what I did was wrong," he said with his back to the angry young man. "I'm a bit of an ass, but then again so are you, Koujaku." Noiz looked at the red-eyed man over his shoulder. "You've lied to Aoba and made your fair share of mistakes yourself. Don't pin the blame all on me, just because you're afraid of your own guilty conscious."

And with that, Mink left Koujaku fuming in Aoba's living room, reluctantly following the thread of truth in Mink's low words.

One person sat around the TV screen, his face lit by its words.

"We've all made mistakes. But I was hoping, Aoba would learn from us. That he would learn from our stories." Koujaku looked to the stairs, up to where Aoba slept in his room. "But I see now that I was wrong. Apparently, Aoba did make a mistake. And his look's even worse than ours . . ."

Koujaku turned away and left the room, joining Noiz and Clear in the kitchen. In his mind's eye, he saw Aoba, his childhood friend, sleeping peacefully in his bed. But that was not the case. Aoba was in the thrall of a particularly nasty nightmare.

But this wasn't your standard, run-of-the-mill bad dream. No, this was The Bad Dream.

He'd been having it every night for months, ever since . . . well, ever since the collapse of the Oval Tower and ever since he'd rejected his . . . other self.

It always started out the same way, with Sei fading away leaving Aoba on a beach made of his own memories.

"You have to accept him," his brother, Sei, had said as he'd faded away. "Please. For me."

And then he left him. Sei left Aoba with . . . that thing. That monster. With Sly Blue.

He'd changed from his white pigment form to something resembling Aoba. Same blue hair, same face shape, same everything. Well, not quite. Sly's face was sharper, his eyes . . . brighter. They were yellow instead of grey and they glowed with so much light. His posture was terrible too. He slouched when he looked at Aoba, shoving both hands deep into his pockets with his shoulders hunched up around his ears. He was also wearing a orange jacket instead of Aoba's signature blue and white puff jacket. Everything about him looked sharper, meaner, and harsher.

And he was. Anybody that could look into someone's mind and destroy them from the inside out was bound to be a meaner person. A terrible person even. At least, that was Aoba thought.

Sly had looked at Aoba with a lip curled up in disgust. Disgust and . . . fear, maybe? The thought had never crossed Aoba's mind at the time, but looking back on it Aoba actually thought Sly might have been scared of Aoba, scared of himself, and the reaction he might receive.

Sighing slightly, Aoba buried his nose into Ren's fur. "Guess that fear was warranted," he mumbled to himself.

"I can't accept you!" Aoba had cried, pushing Sly away when the sharp youth had tried to reach out to him. "Just go away!"

"We are one!" Sly had hissed, advancing on Aoba with sharp narrowed eyes. His voice, coated with power and malice, reached out and grabbed Aoba by the shoulders, sliding up his collarbones to lock around his throat in a tight vice-grip. "You can't escape me!"

"I can try!" Aoba struggled away from Sly - away from himself.

"Let me in." Sly pushed Aoba backwards, sent him tumbling back onto the sandy beach that was Aoba's own mind. "Let me in."

"No!" Aoba cried, struggling back against himself as church bells began to ring loudly in his ears.

"Aoba!" Ren cried out to his master, in human form across the sand from the two Aoba's.

"STAY BACK!" Sly had shouted, narrowing his yellow eyes at Ren's advancing form.

Much against his will, Ren's feet remained planted in the sand as the two Aoba's struggled against each other.

"Let me in." Sly grabbed Aoba's collarbones, slamming him down into the sand.

"NO!"

"Let me in!" He slammed him back again. The sand became rock under Aoba's back and he cried out, arching his back away from the hard surface.

"Let me in!"

"Stop it!"

"Let me in!"

"Never!"

"LET!" Slam. "ME!" Slam. "IN!"

Screaming, Aoba jerked upright in bed, hands flying to his shoulders.

"Two found dead after a mysterious break in late last night. Yakuza members Virus and Trip were found dead in their homes this morning after a neighbor reported hearing strange moaning sounds and muffled screams in the middle of the night. The two were badly beaten, suffering from broken ribs, internal bleeding, and fractured skulls. One of the twins appeared to have fallen out the second story window and onto his neighbor's veranda while the other was collapsed beneath a bookcase when police found them."

Aoba's breathe stopped.

The news report was coming, in fits and starts, from his Coil, laying open by the side of his bed. He immediately put his head in to listen to the rest of the report.

"One eyewitness says they saw a mysterious dark-haired boy creeping in through the back door, but emergency service provider insists the wounds were self-inflicted."

A husky voice came on over the Coil in place of the female reporter's crisp, business-like tone. "'There was blood and skin beneath the fingers of both boys, belonging to the other. It seems the boys attacked themselves. One initiated the fight late last night and the other reacted in self defense, slamming his brother against the bookcase and pulled it down upon him. Realizing what he had done, the distraught brother threw himself out the window in a fit of despair. We have clear evidence that these wounds were self-inflicted and this is what, based upon the evidence, I believed happened last night."

The reporter's voice came on again. "Despite eyewitness reports that but a strange boy at the scene of the crime at the same time as the events of last night, medical examines swear the deaths were a result of a tragic misunderstanding between the two boys. Either way, the case is strange and intriguing and is still being looked into by police. Back to you, Jeff."

With shaky hands, Aoba put his Coil down.

Looking to the side, he saw that Noiz, Clear, and Koujaku had come up the stairs while he was listening to the report and were watching him with wide, questioning eyes. There was sadness, yes, and some pity, but more than that, larger than the friendly compassion they had stored within their irises was a sharp judgement that pierced Aoba down to his very soul.

"I didn't do it." Were the first words out of his mouth.

Somewhere in the ruins of the Oval Tower, Sly Blue's lips turned up into a dry, ugly smile.


	3. Let the Games Begin

Yay! Another update. This is in celebration of the anime (even if I'm a little late there, sorry it took so long to get out) which I'm SO EXCITED for, and I hope all of you are too. Kay, quick note, so I played Mink's reconnect route and I like him a little more now, so there will be more mink in this story than I originally anticipated. Anyway. here's the new chapter, hope you like it. And, as always, please enjoy! PS didn't edit so haha enjoy that

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Let the Games Begin

"They're not twins."

That was the first thing he could think to say.

The table remained silent. Noiz and Clear sat on either side of Aoba with Koujaku making something at the stove. Whatever it was, it smelled horribly horribly burnt, but not one of them said anything. Mink had also returned and was sitting at the head of the table, puffing on his pipe and regarding Aoba cooly.

Minutes passed and Aoba's comment hung in the still air. Koujaku plopped something down in the middle of the table, but Aoba made no move to eat it. Noiz and Koujaku exchanged some looks and Clear pet his young master's head awkwardly with one hand.

After a long, _long _silence, Mink looked up from his pipe and regarded the table calmly.

"He didn't do it."

All eyes went to him, wide with shock.

Mink stared back at them, taking another deep puff of his pipe. "I mean it," he said when the silence droned on. "You can all relax." He swung his eyes over to Aoba. "This wasn't his work." His eyes were cold and hard as ice on Aoba's skin. "Aoba's face hasn't changed."

A vein throbbed at Koujaku's temple. "What does Aoba's face have to do with anything?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in Mink's direction.

Mink swung his eyes over to the wannabe samurai, regarding him with the same cold gaze he'd levelled at Aoba. "He does not have the eyes of a killer," he said slowly, turning back towards Aoba.

Gradually, the room relaxed.

Of course they all knew about Virus and Trip. Aoba had told them all about their "reveal" in the Oval Tower. About how they were really the guys behind Morphine, and Granny's disappearance. About how they'd tricked Mizuki and put him and all the other Rib members under Sei's mind control. Aoba had also, rather reluctantly, told the gang about what Virus and Trip had been planning to do to Aoba.

Yes, they had told Aoba that too. In the moments between when Koujaku and the others burst in and stopped the twins and when Aoba had given up his desperate fight, Virus and Trip had bent down to his level and told him all about their plans. Aoba shuddered just thinking about it.

"We're your biggest fans, Aoba." Virus's voice still haunted his nightmares sometimes, along with Trip's cool smile as he kicked Aoba in the gut hard enough to crack ribs. "We love you."

Upon hearing it, Koujaku had tried to murder the two blonde dicks himself, but their place in the Old Residential District was heavily guarded. He, Noiz, Mink, and Clear had even gone so far as to device a plan to infiltrating Virus and Trip's secure residential apartment, but it had fallen through after Granny had smacked them all squarely on the head.

After the collapse of Oval Tower the two not-twin, twins had found a place near Aoba's and had kept regular hours spying on him. They had been Toue's toys after all and once his influence was cut, they had all the time in the world to fixate over Aoba, the object of their fascination. Aoba had physically seen them little since that day in Oval Tower, but their presence was a constant lurking fear over Aoba, something that dogged his every step.

They had only tried to kidnap him once since the Tower's collapse with disastrous end results for both parties - Aoba ended up with a fractured leg and three broken ribs, Noiz with a collapsed lung and three missing piercings, and Virus with a severe concussion - and increased supervision (as if Aoba didn't already feel like a child with Granny constantly yelling at him).

Since that day Virus and Trip had kept their distance, but Aoba had always been worried they would strike again. He'd even gone so far as to wish the two dead, if only to alleviate the constant threat they posed for the young man's mental well-being.

Ren felt his master's pain and crawled up onto Aoba's lap, his bright pink tongue licking along the inside of Aoba's wrist.

"Aoba," he said in his characteristically deep voice, black eyes regarding his master carefully. "Are you okay?"

Aoba didn't respond. He wound shaky fingers through Ren's long fur and stroked it softly, breathing deep in and out of his mouth.

"So if it wasn't Aoba . . ." Koujaku eyed Aoba hesitantly, red eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Then who was it?" Noiz finished for him, sucking his lip ring between his teeth and biting down softly.

Koujaku slid a look towards the lanky teen. "You took the words right out of my mouth," he said unhappily.

Noiz bit down harder on his lip ring, grinning at Koujaku out of the side of his mouth.

"I've got to call Granny." Aoba stumbled to a stand, fidgeting with his Coil and punching in a couple numbers hurriedly. "Make sure she doesn't think . . ."

It was at that exact moment that Aoba's coil rang.

"Huh?" Aoba blinked at it, clicking it on and holding his wrist up to blink at the incoming screen. "Hello? Granny?"

"YOU MORON!" The voice on the other end screamed.

"Oh dear," Aoba groaned, holding the Coil away from his ear.

"Hi, Tae-san!" Koujaku waved at the Coil's screen, but Aoba's Grandmother barely looked at him, so foul was her mood.

"PLEASE TELL ME YOU DID NOT RUIN YOUR LIFE BY KILLING THOSE TWO LUNATICS!" she shouted, her voice three times its normal volume - which was already fairly loud in Aoba's opinion.

"Granny, I - !" Aoba couldn't get a word in edgewise. "Look, I can exp - !"

"UGH!" This is so TYPICAL of you! You forget to lock the door and now you're a big criminal on the streets. Oh, I'm so disappointed. My only grandson, a murderer."

"GRANNY!"

"Lucky for you, I don't think anyone besides you, me, and your little team of boyfriends back there - "

"_Boyfriends_, Granny!?"

"- would connect you to their murder . . ."

"Well, if you keep talking so loudly, people are gonna find out!" Aoba hissed, cheeks head with embarrassment.

"'Course Akushima never really needed a reason to arrest anyone. He gets even a wiff of your scent and -"

"I don't think that's going to happen." Mink stood, awkwardly entering the conversation. "The police are a lot better now that Toue's gone. They're nice and fair towards the regular folk."

"Oh, really?" Granny slid her piercing gaze away from Aoba and towards the tall, imposing man who stood behind him.

Aoba gladly gave his Coil over to Mink, sighing in relief when the attention wasn't focused on him.

"The yakuza are no longer present, as far as I can tell," Mink continued. "And even if they are, their influence is minimal at best."

"Mhmm." Granny was nodding, regarding Mink calmly with respect in her eyes.

"Either way, we saw the report." Mink looked back towards the kitchen and the other men - and one robot - gathered there. "The police chief said himself that they were ruling this as a murder, suicide. There was one little sliver of evidence that pointed towards a third party, but the person who provided that account couldn't even get into greater detail than she saw 'a strange boy'."

Granny seemed to relax a little. "Well, that's a relief."

"When are you coming home, Granny?" Aoba hesitantly took back his Coil, biting the inside of his cheek and speaking in soft tones - he _so _did not want her yelling at him again.

"It'll be a few more days." Granny looked away from him and Aoba saw for the first time that she was in a crowded marketplace with two heavy bags weighing down her shoulders. "I've got a couple more things I need to get and then there's this town a couple days over I'd like to visit . . ."

"Granny!" Aoba called her attention with a worried frown. "Are you sure you're okay all the way out on the mainland? Do you need some help with all your shopping, or -?"

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, YOU STUPID GRANDSON!" Granny's voice returned to its high screeching octave and Aoba ducked his head in shame. "I'm fine over here! Worry about yourself, for heaven's sake. You're the one in real trouble, living in Midorijima with a murderer on the loose!"

"Sorry, Granny." Aoba lowered his head even further.

"We're all worried about you, Tae-san." Koujaku grabbed the Coil and poked his head into the screen, smiling happily at Granny with a friendly wave. "After all, this is your first trip outside the island, in what, 50 years?"

"I don't need you reminding me how old I am, Koujaku," Granny grumbled, but there was a hint of a smile in her voice. "I've just gone out here so I can get some more herbs and medicine, some of the stuff we can't get around the island. After all with Platinum Jail closed and its corrupting influence gone, I would think our our hospitals are going to need as much help as they can get with patching up the locals."

"And you're doing a fine job, Tae-san," Koujaku said cheerily. "You're the greatest doctor this island has."

"Hmmph," Granny said, but she seemed to be calmer. "Aoba?"

"Yes, Granny?" Aoba blinked at her, returning his head into the frame.

Her eyes were soft when they found the yellow-grey eyes of her grandson. "Stay safe," she said.

"I will," Aoba smiled, bowing his head in a nod.

"And I expect all you boyfriends to try and keep him safe, you hear?" Granny addressed the group milling around behind Aoba.

"Boyfriends?" Aoba muttered, ducking his head in embarrassment.

But after a moment, everyone - Noiz, Clear, Mink, and Koujaku - smiled at the screen and flashed a great thumbs up. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Well, then, I'll see you later," she said as she clicked her Coil off.

With a weary sigh, Aoba clicked his own Coil off, refusing to look back at the group of men moving around behind him.

"So," he said after a beat of awkward silence. "What do we do now?"

Apparently no one had thought that far ahead, for an even deeper silence folded over the room and its occupants.

"Stay safe, I guess," Noiz shrugged after a moment.

"Shouldn't we try and find out who killed them?" Koujaku frowned at the blonde, pierced teen.

"Why?" Noiz rolled his eyes. "They did us a favor, killing those two dickheads."

"Yeah, but who's to say they won't try and come after Aoba, or one of us. Maybe its someone after anybody that has any information in regards to Platinum Jail?" Koujaku presisted.

"How would they even get that information though? And who's to say if anybody did get their hands on that kind of information, they would misuse it like that. Remember Virus and Trip were the bad guys. I still think whoever killed them did us a favor."

"You're really annoying, you know that?"

"You're one to talk, old man."

The conversation went on like that for a while with neither party gaining any ground.

"You okay, Aoba?" Clear asked when Noiz and Koujaku quieted down, looking towards his young master with worry clear on his face.

"Yep." Aoba forced himself to nod, still stroking his fingers through Ren's silky fur. "Really."

"I'm going to head out." Mink stood, looking down at Aoba. "While I don't think this guy's a real threat, it wouldn't hurt to check around, make sure nobody's heard of him."

"Okay," Aoba nodded. "Thanks, Mink."

Mink nodded and turned to go.

But just at that moment, Aoba's Coil started ringing again. Its tone was high and loud, sharper than the usual ring, not quite as pleasant on Aoba's ears.

"Huh?" Aoba held it up, opening up the screen and flicking the communicator on. "Granny? Is that you again?

But it wasn't Granny.

It was just a message.

Large orange letters sat on top of a background of blue. The letters shimmered and sparkled slightly, moving with Aoba as the young man sat back down beside Noiz and Clear with his arm outstretched.

"Hello again," Aoba read, his eyes narrowing the further down the page he scrolled. "Did you see my present?"

The tension in the room skyrocketed. Four pairs of eyes landed on Aoba, slicing through his skin and into the message screen he was reading. The whole thing began shaking with Aoba's arm the further he read down the message.

"I knew you'd like that. I never really liked them anyway. Creeps, both of them. But, then again, they were nice to me when I wasn't really nice to anybody."

"What the hell?" Koujaku stood and made to grab Aoba's Coil, but Noiz pushed him back down with a hand on his chest.

"Let him finish."

"I never got to truly thank you for that day on the beach. It was hard at the time, but now I'm so glad you turned me away." Aoba's blood ran cold as he finished that line.

"Aoba?" Koujaku extended a hand towards his friend.

Mink reached him first, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. "Finish it," he said in a stern voice.

"We're going to play a little game, Aoba. Everyday you'll get a present from me. Some you may like, others . . . well, others you may hate. Virus and Trip were my first present to you. Did you like it? Aren't you glad those two punks are dead?"

"This is sick." Someone said it, but Aoba didn't know who. All sound was running together in his mind until all of it, all of it, sounded like the words he was numbly reading from his Coil screen.

"After each present, I'll ask you a question. It'll be the same question each time, so you don't have to worry too much about your answer. This first present is a freebie, but starting tomorrow, I want you to have that answer ready."

"Is that it?" Koujaku asked. "He didn't even tell you the question."

"I look forward to playing with you, Aoba. And may the best man win."


End file.
